Plan plan plan plan and plan. I don’t know how many times I can say that to stress how important planning is when it comes to writing. Planning, road map, outline, whatever you want to call it, is a very vital part of the thinking and writing machinery of creating a decent to well written piece; and depending on how much you actually enjoy organizing, it could either be the best or worst part in your leisurely writing routine.

            Just like how we outline essays in school, the same idea must be applied when it comes to writing long pieces like series or chaptered works. By writing everything down, you create a solid but extremely rough backbone to your story and have a general idea of what you want to happen as it progresses. Constant editing and re-editting of your outline can lead to many great and glorious things when you broaden your horizons and try something new—or tweak old ideas, whichever tickles your fancy. Research, observation, first hand experiences and such can make a dull piece into a great piece. A simple change in a word can turn a one shot into an elaborate and wondrous book sized work (I can preach about this).

            The generic idea of outlining a story is simple and depending on what genres you decide to administer to your work varies the amount of time you need to put into your outline but it does not change the fact that an outline is utterly necessary. From slice of life to full blow fantasy, the main points every outline should include are:

• Genre: List all of the possibilities and don’t be afraid to try something new. Some of the best gore ideas originally come from romances.
• Characters: Name, age, DOB, likes and dislikes, background, pet peeves, flaws, the whole shabang. A problem I would typically come across while writing is deciding how a character would react to a certain situation but this problem is easily avoided so long as you know your character. And not only the main characters but every character that makes a solid appearance at least once in your story. Obviously the main characters are going to have more of an elaborated dissection in your planning notebook then your side ones but that doesn’t mean they should be ignored. There’s a lot more I can say about characters but I’ll leave that for another time.
• Setting: Whether it be in a completely neo genesis world in another galaxy or a generic high school, setting is always important when it comes to planning out a story. You want to be able to visualize it when writing and your job as a writer is to portray that image to your reader through the meticulous use of words and punctuation. You want to know your setting inside and out so then you may use it to your advantage to add an extra flare to your work.
• Time: Present day, year 3023 or back in the 1400’s, you always need a timeline of your story. This is absolutely vital so you don’t confuse yourself or your reader.
• Problem: And this doesn’t mean the main problem of your story but rather all the problems that take place in the timeframe of your story. The main goal of a piece may be to get character A and B together but that doesn’t mean you should create character A and B with perfect, non-problematic lives. People are flawed and in stories pertaining to them, there are bound to be countless of interconnected and devious problems and typically, that’s how a story should go to keep it relatable.
• Solution: And obviously, with every problem, there is going to be a solution but that doesn’t mean that it has to be solved by the last word of your piece. The main problem should always be solved but don’t forget about the little ones that surrounds each character’s lives. Writing for years, I’ve found that it’s fun to leave some cliffhangers in some character’s lives. It spurs the imagination and gives the reader a leeway in allowing to put their own fantasies into a story they originally had no control over.
• Basic Outline: This is highly important because it puts everything in an orderly fashioned list. It will definitely keep you on track if you’re a writer like me who takes forever and a day to write long pieces.

These following aspects are one of the most important when it comes to planning a piece and they should never be overlooked and underestimated. And with these points come a lot or very little research depending on your genre of choice. When it comes to planning, research is one of the more time consuming and definitely the most taxing of your planning process depending on what you decide to write. However, research in and of itself is a completely different topic that I will most definitely touch upon in the next update.